It has been a long time coming, but we have carried out a massive overhaul of the website. This is something we had been planning for a while, but due to certain circumstances, our hands were forced and we begun a rebuild. From the initial look, it may look like nothing has changed. But it has, and we hope to continue to bring improvements and updates to our audiences.
To put it briefly we have moved the entire website onto a CMS Platform. This has numerous advantages, and disadvantages, but it will allow us to update the site more frequently without having to rely on one persons coding skills and a particular computer. As it now also harnesses the power of databases, there are many funky features that we have added to make our lives, and yours, easier. The reason for this massive upgrade is that the CMS allows a certain amount of flexibility over a static website, i.e. small changes to the layout are applied to the entire site in one easy click. It also means that someone with little coding skill will be able to update the website, and this is something that has been a problem since the site started.
The layout of the site has not changed too much. There have been a number of cosmetic changes, such as popup images and a new front page. But we liked the style we had, and being from the school ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ we decided to keep the old design. A few sections have been merged together to enhance the overall experience, but we have not lost any of our original content (as the site stands, we have not added any new sites, but we shall be bring new ones soon).
It has taken a while as we have had to hammer the CMS system to our needs, which lead to a number of frustrated days when things did not quite work the way we wished. But in all, it should provide a better experience for all.
A few short facts for you:
- It has taken a few hundred hours to convert the entire site,
- Over 200 pages have been created,
- Over 4000 images have been uploaded,
- The blog has been replicated word for word, and,
- over 25 sites are ready and waiting to be uploaded to the site.
We hope you enjoy the new look and feel.